Paul Signac was one of the principal Neoimpressionist painters, who was friends and worked with Georges Seurat in creating pointillism.

After he and Seurat met in 1884, they developed a technique of painting with dots--or "points" in French--of color, which led to the name pointillism. As Signac explained, they used the pure impressionist palette but applied it in dots that were to be blended by the viewer's eye. What Signac called "muddy mixtures" were to be banished from painting and replaced by luminous, intense colors.

Signac published a book called "From Delacroix to Neo-Impressionism" in 1899, explaining their theories. Signac's prosperous shopkeeping family gave him financial independence. Unlike Seurat, he had virtually no formal training; he taught himself to paint by studying the works of other painters. Many of Signac's works are landscapes, inspired by the bright sunlight of southern France. He also painted some figure compositions.

Paul Signac became president of the annual Salon des Independants (1908-34), and encouraged younger artists by exhibiting the controversial works of the Fauves and the Cubists.